Does Color Matter When Buying a Car

There are many factors that consumers consider when it comes to purchasing a new car, things like gas mileage efficiency, total mileage, overall cost, maintenance schedule and programs and much more are all important to take into consideration before driving your new car off of the lot and heading home. One factor that’s importance has been debated is the actual color of the vehicle and if that can be a determining factor to consider when buying a car. While color alone shouldn’t be what makes you decide yes or no on signing on the dotted line, it’s important to know what impacts different colored cars can have.

Things to consider while choosing color

Here are just some of the things you should take into consideration when choosing a color for your new vehicle.

Value– Yes, it’s true, the color of your car does have an impact on the value of it when it comes to resale. Choosing from one of the more popular vehicle colors like silver or white, will help the value of your car stay high should you try to resell it after 4-5 years while less popular colors will cause the vehicle to depreciate in value. Silver and white have long traded spots atop the most popular colors of car while gold and brownish colors tend to consistently be the least popular across almost every style of vehicle.

Consider the Model of the Vehicle– While certain colors will help or harm the resale value of your vehicle, it’s also important that you consider the model of car that you’re getting. For instance, yellow looks much better and more fitting on a sleek new sports car than on a four-door sedan or a minivan. Yes, some colors are more popular than others but each make and model of vehicle has colors best suited for its’ design so knowing the model you’re looking for will help you in the long run should you try to resell.

Theft Deterring– While the consensus may be that brighter colors look better on sports cars, they can serve a purpose greater than just resale value on vehicles. Brighter colors can actually be a theft deterrent. Cars of various shades of bright oranges, yellows and reds are often reported to have the lowest rate of theft in comparison to the more common darker and muted colors. While other factors contribute to rates of theft and if your vehicle is more or less likely to be a potential target, the numbers do suggest that a bright colored vehicle runs less of a risk of theft and depending on the area you live in, can be important to consider.

Red Cars Aren’t More Costly– One of the most popular color coded myths about cars is that red cars not only are subjected to higher insurance rates, but that they’re also at more of a risk of being pulled over on the roads and ticketed more frequently than other colors of vehicle. This is a popular myth that has grown over time that because red is such a bright and easy to see color on a car, cops can more easily find and ticket them for any violations, which also leads to the higher insurance rates but there is no correlation or validity to the rumors. While red isn’t as popular a color overall as it has been in years past though that simply seems to be a result of a shift in preference.

Conclusion

Every vehicle from SUVs to minivans, sports cars to sedans each have colors that not only look great on them, but also suit the vehicle better than other colors do. While there is tons of information available that suggests color makes a huge impact on things like resale value and even the deterring of potential theft, more popular misconceptions such as red being more likely to be pulled over and ticketed or cost more for insurance purposes are just myths that have grown over time. Color plays an important part in choosing and owning a vehicle; drivers have even stated that they’d switch brands of car if their preferred brand didn’t have their color of choice. While certainly not the most important thing to consider, finding a vehicle in a popular color of your choice will go a long way to helping you enjoy the car more while maintaining the value over an extended period of time.